North-Rhine-Westphalia,
the Federal Land in the heart of Germany.
(All Photos: Jost
/ Schendel
/ Schweingruber)
This
short info sketches a small portrait of our land. A spotlight !
North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) - the land between the Rhine and the Weser - is a land of contrasts und diversity.
18 million people and 2
million foreigners from 170 different nations live with us here - as students,
scientists, artists and workers. This has enriched the Land’s cultural
diversity and has made NRW a truly cosmopolitan Land. The Ruhrgebiet (Position
from Gelsenkirchen) is a region with long heavy industrial tradition (Gelsenkirchen
and the inhabitants are really childs of this region).
Our government in North-Rhine-Westphalia (NRW).
|
|
The Land has been founded 23rd August 1946. The Land Lippe was integrated in 1947. 34,068 km comprise five government districts: Düsseldorf, Cologne, Münster, Detmold, Arnsberg. (Gelsenkirchen-Buer is in the government district Münster). The Landtag is our Land’s parliament. Opened in 1988, the Landtag is a new building on the banks of the Rhine in Düsseldorf, the capital of NRW. Four parliamentary parties with 187 members represent the Landtag. The Parliament as legislative and controlling power, the government as executive and creative strength - together with the independent courts they form the pillars of our parliamentary democracy. |
North-Rhine-Westphalia in change.
The
Land of coal and steel has become a Land with new industries. To many
mines and steel-works had to be cloosed. The structure of the economy
has changed radically over the past decades. The Ruhrgebiet, which used
to be the classical industrial region, has had to be developed into the
new technologies and modern economy. This has not been an easy way ! Not
for the economy and not for the people!
Only a land for hard work ?
Scarcely anywhere else are culture and nature so close to each other as in North Rhine-Westphalia.
Cologne Cathedral and the
picturesque Bergisches Land, the Imperial Palace in Aachen and the hilly
ranges of the Eifel or the Sauerland Mountains. Visit the time-honoured
industrial monuments in the Ruhrgebiet ! There are many mines and steel-works
which have become great open-air-museums (for example Meidericher smelting-works
in Duisburg-Nord or the gasometer of Oberhausen "Centro"). Eifel, Siebengebirge,
Lower Rhine, Münsterland and Teutoburger Wood - eldorados for nature lovers
and discoverers. The people of NRW find recreation in their own neighbourhoods.
You see, also leisure and recreation are right on the doorstep.
 |
 |
 |
 |
